Impact of climate change on UK workplaces

A report issued by the Trades Union Congress in April 2009 has highlighted the implications of climate change for employment. The report describes the findings of research conducted in the UK’s private and public sectors and concludes that organisations need to do far more to consider the implications of climate change on workplaces. The report also offers a series of policy recommendations to the UK’s public authorities and social partners.

Background to report

In April 2009, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) published a report – entitled Changing work in a changing climate (0.46 Mb PDF) – which investigates the effects of climate change on workplaces. The report draws on the large body of scientific evidence that describes the general effects of climate change and also refers to recent news reports highlighting the issue. The TUC identified that no previous studies have been conducted that comprehensively examine the relationship between climate change and employment. The congress was also particularly concerned by the potential of climate change to affect low-income groups disproportionately. The study surveyed organisations in the UK’s public sector – with a particular focus on the local government sector – as well as conducting a series of case studies in the country’s private sector.

Key findings

Within the public sector, the bulk of the data gathered related to the UK’s local government sector and the measures that had been adopted by organisations in this sphere to adapt to climate change. According to the findings, the organisations adopted a range of measures as follows:

• 81% of the organisations surveyed within the sector had engaged in internal awareness raising activities on climate change;

• 54% had included the topic of climate change in their corporate plan;

• 50% of the organisations had formulated an ‘adaptation action plan’ to deal with the effects of climate change;

• 47% had conducted research on the effects of climate change;

• 53% had developed flood response plans;

• only 32% of the organisations had developed specific policies related to climate change;

• a mere 23% had implemented infrastructural changes in relation to climate change.

A series of case studies were also conducted in the UK’s private sector. The case studies included:

• the case of a Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 (FTSE 100) company operating in the packing manufacturing sector – an official from the company stated that the firm had adopted a holistic, group-wide approach to deal with the threat of climate change but had encountered difficulties in quantifying the threat posed by climate change when adopting policies to deal with the phenomenon;

• a FTSE 100 company operating in the food and beverages sector – this company had installed a building management system (BMS) that allowed temperatures within sites to be controlled using a central computer. The company reported that the installation of the system had improved working conditions in sites markedly and had also helped the firm to meet energy reduction goals and save costs.

Policy recommendations

The report concluded by making a series of policy recommendations to companies, trade unions and the UK’s public authorities. These included:

• a call on the public authorities to introduce a new statutory upper limit on workplace temperatures and to ensure that climate change does not disproportionately affect low-income groups adversely;

• the recommendation that a review of existing workplaces and work practices be conducted in order to make them more sensitive to a changing climate – specifically, the report suggests reviewing shift patterns and dress codes, and the installation of facilities to make workplaces more resilient to climate change;

• the recommendation that greater contingency planning be developed – the report states that many organisations do not have plans in place to deal with ‘extreme’ weather scenarios like flooding, and suggests that organisations and the UK public authorities develop contingency plans to deal with such events.

Commentary

Climate change and its effects on employment and working conditions is an under-researched area. Therefore, the results of the TUC report will be welcomed by trade unionists and practitioners seeking to develop policy in this area. Given the recent attention that the topic of climate change has recently received in national, European and international policy circles, it is also reasonable to think that the issue is growing in importance and is likely to appear more often on the agenda of social partners in the coming years. As a result, the TUC report may have quite a substantial impact on policy in the years ahead.

Thomas Prosser, IRRU, University of Warwick